New WAG@The Park exhibitions curated by emerging guest curators

Walter J. Phillips, Ivan Eyre, Through the Eyes of a Child, and Winnie-the-Pooh on view this winter

Winnipeg, Manitoba, December 17, 2019: This winter and spring, visitors to Assiniboine Park will have the opportunity to take in four WAG@The Park exhibitions, presented at The Pavilion. The work of Walter J. Phillips and Ivan Eyre are on display along with a selection of works from the WAG collection, The Many Sides of Winnie-the-Pooh, and soon, children’s artwork from WAG Studio classes.

WAG@The Park is a partnership between the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) and the Assiniboine Park Conservancy (APC). The exhibitions are curated by the WAG, with artworks drawn from both the APC and WAG collections. The galleries are currently open daily from 9am to 4pm and admission is FREE!

The Natural Element: Art Nouveau & Walter J. Phillips
Curated by Nicole Fletcher, Guest Curator and WAG Collections Coordinator
December 21, 2019 to September 20, 2020 • John P. Crabb Gallery • The Pavilion, 2nd floor

• The British-born Phillips immigrated to Canada in 1913, settling in Winnipeg, where he began documenting the country’s landscape.
• Art Nouveau, one of the most popular European movements, was influential to Walter J. Phillips’ work, and is noticeable through his stylized, curved forms and soft, naturalistic colour palette.
• Although Art Nouveau had no unifying style, it infused every major art form, characterized by the use of shapes and patterns from nature.
• This exhibition brings together Art Nouveau decorative arts from the WAG’s permanent collection along with Phillips’ prints and paintings from the Assiniboine Park Conservancy’s collections to show Phillips’ incorporation of the movement into his work in a uniquely Canadian way.

Eyre in Comparison: Personal Experience and the Universal Subject
Curated by Audrey Bews, Guest Curator
December 21, 2019 to October 11, 2020 • Ivan Eyre Gallery • The Pavilion, 3rd floor

• Manitoba artist Ivan Eyre’s work confronts seemingly eternal questions and mysteries central to all human experience, such as the necessity of violence, freedom of will, the relationship between beauty and goodness, and the gendered and sexual nature of humans.
• Eyre encourages his viewers to understand his work through their own personal experience, and to construct their own meaning.
• The exhibition pairs Eyre’s paintings with examples of work by female artists including Christiane Pflug, Sheila Butler, Esther Warkov, Kittie Bruneau and Natalka Husar that are critically attuned to the gendered representation of women in art.
• The artists’ inherently political works are reflective of their period of production, the 60s, 70s, and 80s, a socially and politically conscious period of feminist activism.
• The juxtaposition with female artists diversifies Ivan Eyre’s subjective understanding and depiction of universal themes as a white male Canadian settler.

Through the Eyes of a Child
February 8 to April 13, 2020 • Community Gallery • The Pavilion, 2nd floor

• For the 2020 edition of Through the Eyes of a Child, the children in WAG Studio’s art classes focused on the theme of environment.

• This exhibition includes drawing, painting, mixed media collage, and pottery produced under the guidance of WAG Studio’s team of artist instructors.

• With the support of the Associates of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg School Division, and the APC, the WAG is able to showcase the work of 250 talented young artists of the 1200 children that attend WAG Studio programming every year.

Quotes:

“What I find interesting about Phillips’ work is the inspiration he drew from major international art movements, such as Art Nouveau, in a country which never embraced the movement the way its European counterparts did. He blended these influences to create his own unique style, through which he gained national success. This pairing of Art Nouveau pieces with Phillips’ work emphasizes their shared elements of line, form, and colour while at the same time showing how Phillips deviated from more well-known aspects of the movement’s style.”
—Nicole Fletcher, Guest Curator & WAG Collections Coordinator

“Ivan Eyre’s innovative approach to the human form allows for a very interesting comparison with female Canadian artists’ critical depictions. The juxtaposition invites viewers to make their own conclusions on whether themes such as femininity, beauty, sexuality, the female body, space, violence and freedom can be represented objectively.”
—Audrey Bews, Guest Curator

“Art classes allow for more than just learning techniques. The world around us is changing and children are talking about it.  It’s a conversation that can sometimes be difficult, especially for young people, so we wanted to give the students the space to present their thoughts and feelings on this topic in a creative way.  Through the Eyes of a Child is not just a display of young people’s artwork, it’s their voice.”
—Cara Mason, Learning & Programs Coordinator, WAG Studio

Associated Links
Winnipeg Art Gallery – WAG@The Park
Assiniboine Park Conservancy Pavilion – Art in the Park

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For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Amber O’Reilly
Engagement Officer
Winnipeg Art Gallery
204.789.1295
PublicRelations@wag.ca

Laura Cabak
Manager, Communications & Public Relations
Assiniboine Park Conservancy
204.927.6077
lcabak@assiniboinepark.ca

The Winnipeg Art Gallery is a cultural advocate using art to connect, inspire, and inform. Playing a dynamic role in the community, we are a place for learning, dialogue, and enjoyment through art. The WAG holds in trust the largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art on earth. To celebrate the art and to honour the Inuit, the WAG is building the Inuit Art Centre, the first of its kind in the world. Opening in 2020, the Centre will bridge Canada’s North and South through exhibitions, research, education, and art making. To learn more visit wag.ca

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